JP2002050019A - Contact magnetic head slider - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the traveling stability of a contact magnetic head slider. SOLUTION: The rail surface of a slider includes a pad part and a side surface part, and the pad part is provided with the function of being brought into contact with a magnetic recording medium or floated during running. Side surface parts are located on three sides excluding an air flow-out end, a recessed part is formed around the slider, and a negative pressure is generated therein. Thus, the pressing force of a part having a magnetic head to the magnetic recording medium is increased, and the traveling stability of the slider is improved.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a magnetic head slider, and more particularly to a contact type magnetic head slider in which the magnetic head slider always contacts a magnetic recording medium during recording and reproduction.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 7 schematically shows a contact state between a conventional contact type magnetic head slider 1 and a magnetic recording medium 2. As shown in FIG. The magnetic recording medium 2 includes a liquid lubricating film 2a, a protective film 2b, a magnetic film 2
c and the substrate 2d. A magnetic head slider 1 having a built-in magnetic head (not shown) is pressed against the liquid lubricating film 2a on the surface of the magnetic recording medium 2 by the pressing force of the gimbal spring 4, and records information on the magnetic recording medium while making contact. And reproducing information from the magnetic recording medium.

At this time, a surface tension acts between the liquid lubricating film 2a and the magnetic head slider 1, whereby meniscuses 3a and 3b are formed around the magnetic head slider. The magnetic head slider 1 and the liquid lubricating film 2a maintain contact with each other in a posture in which the attractive force by the meniscuses 3a and 3b and the cohesive pressure by the liquid lubricating film 2a are balanced.

[0004]

When a magnetic head slider is run while being in contact with a liquid lubricating film, a conventional floating magnetic head is used as the liquid lubricating film from the viewpoint of alleviating abrasion of the medium by the magnetic head slider. A slider having a thickness at least several times to about ten times that of the slider is required.

However, in the case of a thick liquid lubricating film, the lubricant is scraped off from under the magnetic head slider by the movement of the magnetic head slider, so that the liquid lubricating film at the position where the magnetic head slider runs is reduced. As the traveling time increases, the liquid lubricating film is significantly reduced and loses the function of protecting the medium. As a result, the protective film may be significantly worn or damaged.

In order to avoid this, a system for constantly replenishing the liquid lubricant between the magnetic head slider and the medium is required. However, if this system is mounted on the magnetic head slider, the control mechanism of the magnetic recording apparatus becomes complicated. It is not practical because it is very difficult to reduce the size.

Further, in order to obtain a necessary and sufficient meniscus force for maintaining running stability, it is necessary to increase the contact area between the liquid lubricant and the magnetic head slider. For this purpose, it is necessary to press the entire head slider. There is.

However, according to this method, it is not possible to avoid the influence of vibration generated due to the in-plane topography of the medium. In order to suppress the vibration due to the topography, it is necessary to adjust the characteristics of the gimbal spring for each medium, resulting in a complicated process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the problems relating to these contact magnetic head sliders and to provide a contact magnetic head slider having high running stability.

[0010]

According to the present invention, when an air bearing is formed in a gap between a magnetic storage medium and a magnetic head slider, spacing can be controlled by the air bearing, and the air bearing itself serves as a damper. This is based on the knowledge that vibrations due to external disturbances can be reduced and the running stability of the magnetic head slider can be maintained.

According to the present invention, an object is to provide a slider to a magnetic head which holds a magnetic head and has a facing surface facing a magnetic recording medium, wherein the slider flows between the facing surface and the surface of the magnetic recording medium. In a contact type magnetic head slider of a type in which a magnetic head is brought close to a magnetic recording medium by a negative pressure generated by an air flow and is always in contact with the magnetic recording medium during recording and reproduction, a rail surface of the magnetic head slider facing the magnetic recording medium has A pad portion that comes into contact with the magnetic recording medium when stopped and comes into contact with the recording medium when running or generates a main floating force and floats, and a side portion that exists on three sides excluding the air outflow end surface and generates a negative pressure at the center of the slider. Is achieved by providing the following.

That is, the present invention proposes a magnetic head slider having an air bearing and capable of contact running. First, the center of pressure of the air bearing is moved from the load center position to the inflow end side to make the relative movement. The spacing at the outflow end is reduced.

Further, the three sides of the slider except for the outflow end are surrounded by U-shaped rails (side rails), and a recess is formed in the center of the slider. Pressure) is applied, and the overall flying height can be reduced.

If a small air inlet is provided at the front end of the outflow end of the side rail to optimize the shape, the pressure distribution of the air bearing corresponding to the radial position and the skew angle can be adjusted without increasing the flying height. Can be balanced.

That is, according to the second aspect of the present invention, in the above-mentioned contact type magnetic head slider, an air inlet is provided on the front surface of at least one of the inflow ends on the inner peripheral side or the outer peripheral side of the side surface portion. The width of the air inlet in the longitudinal direction is set to 20% or less of the entire length in the longitudinal direction of the magnetic head slider.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in this case, the total area of the surface of the pad portion facing the recording medium on the air inflow end side with respect to the load center is calculated as the air outflow end from the load center. It is preferable to make the sum of the areas of the surfaces of the pad portions present on the side facing the recording medium larger than the total area.

[0017]

Next, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a bottom view and a side view of a first embodiment of the present invention. The magnetic head slider 1 includes an inflow end pad 1a, two outflow end pads 1b, and a side surface 1c, and a main body 5 such as a magnetic head is mounted on an upper portion thereof.
When the magnetic head slider 1 travels, the inflow end pad 1a receives an air flow to form an air bearing. This air bearing maintains the running stability of the magnetic head slider 1.

Since the air bearing is formed on the inflow end side, the lift center of the slider is located on the inflow end side from the load center, and the position of the outflow end pad 1b is relatively lowered. Also,
By providing the side surface portion 1c, a negative pressure is generated in the central portion 1d of the magnetic head slider 1 to bring the magnetic head slider 1 closer to the magnetic disk. With the above configuration, the outflow end pad 1b can always contact the magnetic disk.

FIG. 2 shows a bottom view and a side view of a second embodiment of the present invention. As in the first embodiment, the magnetic head slider 1 includes an inflow end pad 1a, an outflow end pad 1b, and a side surface 1c. The side surface portion 1c has an air inlet 1e at a front portion of the outflow end pad 1b at at least one of the inner peripheral portion and the outer peripheral portion. The air inlet 1e has a role of adjusting the pressure and the pressure distribution and controlling the floating attitude.

FIG. 3 shows a bottom view and a side view of a third embodiment of the present invention. Unlike the second embodiment, the air inlet 1e is slightly wide open only on one side of the side surface 1c.

FIG. 4 shows a bottom view and a side view of a fourth embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the air inlet is formed as a small opening 1f on one side of the side surface 1c and as a large opening 1g on the other side.

A perspective view of the bottom surface of these embodiments is shown in FIG. FIG. 8 corresponds to the third embodiment shown in FIG. 3, but is not drawn to correspond dimensionally.

In any of the embodiments, the air inlet width is set to an optimum value such that the outflow end pad 1b does not float under the radial position of the inner circumference and the outer circumference of the side surface and the skew angle condition.

With respect to the optimization of the width (area) of the air inflow port, the result of levitation analysis simulation based on the embodiment of FIG. 3 will be described below.

As shown in FIG. 5, the slider rail has a depth of 1.2 mm, a width of 1.0 mm, a height of 0.3 mm,
An opening having an air inlet width of 0.15 mm is provided on a thing having a thickness of 0.06 mm, and the depth of the inflow end pad is 0.28 mm,
Each of the outflow end pads had a depth of 0.15 mm and a width of 0.2 mm. As the analysis conditions, the load was 4.9 mN, the radius at the radial position (inner circumference) of the inlet was 19.5 mm, the skew angle was -6.3 °, the radius at the radial position (outer circumference) was 45.3 mm, and the skew was +1 corner
8.3 ° (see FIG. 9).

FIG. 6 shows the relationship between the width of the air inlet and the flying height of the outlet end. As the width of the air inlet increases, the flying height on the inner peripheral side increases. The optimum value of the air inlet is determined on condition that the surface roughness height of the magnetic disk does not exceed the flying height. For example, assuming that the surface roughness height is 5 nm, the outflow end pad 1 if the air inlet / total length [%] in the longitudinal direction is 20.8% or less.
b can be determined not to float.

[0028]

As described above, according to the present invention, (1) since the center of lift is located ahead of the center of load, the outflow end on which the head for recording and reproducing information is mounted is relatively positioned on the recording medium. And magnetic spacing can be reduced. (2) As a result, it is possible to cope with a decrease in the magnetic signal accompanying an increase in the recording density, and it is expected that the magnetic recording apparatus will have a higher recording density and a smaller size. (3) By enclosing the three sides excluding the outflow end of the slider in a concave shape with a convex rail, a force (negative pressure) opposite to the floating force is applied to the center of the slider, and the overall floating amount is reduced. The contact traveling can be realized. (4) Since the slider can be processed only by the concave and convex processing, the slider processing is easy. (5) By controlling the levitation force by using an air bearing together, it is possible to suppress the occurrence of vibrations due to disturbances such as rolling, so that stable contact running is possible, and the reliability of information recording and reproduction is improved. Expected. And other excellent effects.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a bottom view and a side view of a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view and a side view of a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view and a side view of a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view and a side view of a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a bottom view and a side view showing dimensions of a slider rail when a flying analysis simulation is performed on a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a characteristic diagram showing the relationship between the number of revolutions and the minimum flying height with the air inlet width / length in the longitudinal direction as parameters in the flying analysis simulation.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a contact state of a conventional contact type magnetic head slider.

FIG. 8 is a bottom perspective view of the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a plan view for explaining the analysis conditions of the flying analysis simulation.

[Explanation of symbols]

 Reference Signs List 1 magnetic head slider 1a inflow end pad 1b outflow end pad 1c side surface 1d negative pressure portion 1e, 1f, 1g air inflow port 2 magnetic recording medium 2a liquid lubrication film 2b protective film 2c magnetic film 2d substrate 3a, 3b meniscus 4 gimbal spring 5 Body with built-in magnetic head

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A slider for holding a magnetic head and having a facing surface facing a magnetic recording medium, wherein the slider has a negative pressure generated by an airflow flowing between the facing surface and the surface of the magnetic recording medium. In a contact type magnetic head slider in which the magnetic head is brought close to the magnetic recording medium and is always in contact with the magnetic recording medium during recording and reproduction, the rail surface of the magnetic head slider facing the magnetic recording medium comes into contact with the magnetic recording medium when stopped. It has a pad portion which comes into contact with the recording medium or generates a main levitation force during running, and a side portion which is present on three sides excluding the air outflow end surface and generates a negative pressure at the center of the slider. Contact type magnetic head slider. 2. The contact type magnetic head slider according to claim 1, wherein an air inlet is provided at a front surface of at least one of the inner peripheral side and the outer peripheral side of the side surface portion, and the width of the air inlet in the longitudinal direction. Is 20% or less of the total length in the longitudinal direction of the magnetic head slider. 3. The contact type magnetic head slider according to claim 1, wherein a total area of a surface of the pad portion, which is located on the air inflow end side from the load center and faces the recording medium, is equal to the air outflow end from the load center. A contact type magnetic head slider characterized by being larger than the sum of the areas of the surfaces of the pad portions on the side facing the recording medium.